Tobacco sled



Oct. 4, 1949. c. s. HILL 2,483,582

TOBACCO SLED Arrop/vf Y.

C. S. HILL TOBACCO SLED Oc-t. 4, 1949.

2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed 001;. 24, 1947 llf" Patented Oct. 4, 1949 UNITED'STATES QFFICE TOBACCO sLED ,charles s. Hill, Hyper/t, u. c. ApplicationOctober 24, 1945-7, Serial N0. 781,950 g claims. (C1. :n4-5,5) v Y yThis invention relates to a tobacco sled and more especially to atobacco sled having means for raising the bottom portion of thecontainer carried by the sled so that the tobacco leaves vcan betakenout of the ycontainer without the operators having te stoop over andreach far down into the bottom .of the container.

` In the harvesting of tobacco, a sled is drawn along betweentwo rows oftobacco. Operato-rs strip the leaves, beginning at the bottom up as faras they have ripened properly and lay them into a Ylarge containermounted on runners and which is usually .drawn by a mule between therows of tobacco. When the container has been lled, it is dragged t theplace where the tobacco leaves are being fastened onto tobacco sticks bya stringing operation and from thence the tobacco sticks lled with thetobacco leaves are placed in a curing barn for a curing operation.

Heretoiore an ordinary rectangular and elongated container such as alarge box has been mounted on suitable runners vand the leaves oftobacco are stripped from the tobacco stalks and laid carefully into thebottom of the box and so on until the box is :filled at which time it ispulled to the point where the tobacco leaves are being Strung Onto thetobacco sticks and then the to- 'bacco leaves are taken out in smallbunches and hold against Opposite sides `oi the stick, where an operatorwraps a string several times around one bunch and then criss-crosses thestring to the other side and wraps several turns of the string around.another bunch of tobacco leaves and so on until the tobacco stick isnlled, at which time the end of the string is secured to the tobaccostick and the sticks are then ready for depositing into the barn.

This operation entails much back-breaking labor in having to stoop clearover and sometimes projecting the head of the operator into the top ofthe container so that tobacco leaves can be carefully laid along thebottom of the container because these leaves must be kept instraightened parallel condition at all times. Also when the sled hasreached the point' of Stringing, the tobacco leaves are removed from thetop toward the bottom, and, of course, while removing the tobacco leavesfrom the top, no stooping is necessary, but as the contents are removedand as the operators have to lean far over to reach the tobacco leavesin the bottom of the container, much stooping is necessary and it is aVery laborious proposition.

It is an object of this invention to provide a tobacco sled having acontainer mounted on suit- 2 able runners, and the container is in theform of a frame instead of a box, though it could be a box if desired,and on one edge of the frame at the top thereof is mounted a roller andon the opposite ledge .extending longitudinally or" the row of tobaccois another roller which is parallel with the lirst roller, and on theserollers, the ends of a piece .of canvas `or `other suitable strongflexible material are secured and the 4rollers are unrolled until thecanvas entirely covers the side walls of the frame and rests on thebottom of the Iframework. This would be the position of the canvas whenthe framework is filled with tobacco leaves, but preferably, it isbetter to have the .canvas rst positioned in the position shown indotted lines in Figure :3 and the'tobaccc leaves are then placed ontothis canvas, and then when it is illed to the top of the frame, one orboth or" the rollers can be u nrolled to lower the canvas to theposition shown in Figure 4, at which time the rollers can be rotated oneat a time to gradually raise .the bottom of .the ,canvas portion to thusraise the tobacco leaves and make them easily accessible from the top.

Some of the objects of the invention having been stated, other objectswill appear as the de- Scripton proceeds .when taken in connection vwiththe accompanying drawings, in which Figure l is a top plan view of thesled with portions broken away;

Figure 2 is a side elevation of the sled looking from the .lower side ofFigure 1;

Figure 3 is an end view of the sled looking from the left-hand end ofFigures 1 and 2;

Figure 4 is a vertical sectional view taken along the line 4-4 in Figure2;

Figure 5 is a detail view showing a portion of the upper left-handcorner of Figure 2 with portions in section;

Figure 6 is a sectional detail view taken along the line 6-6 in Figure1;

Figure 7 is .a sectional detail view taken along the line I-V'I inFigure 1.

Referring more specifically to the drawings, the numerals I0 and IIindicate suitable sled runners beveled at each end thereof and havingangle bars I2 and I3 secured on their outer and top edges and crossangle bars I 4 are secured between these side angle bars I2 and I3 ateach end thereof, and on the end angle bars I4 and I5 are mountedsuitable planks I6 and II forming a bottom. Rising upwardly from theangle bars I2 and I3 arecorner angle bars 20, 2|, 22 and 23 and suitableintermediate side angle bars 25 and 26 are secured to these corner anglebars and span the distance between them for strengthening purposes. Atthe top of the corner angle .bars and spanning the distance therebetweenare top bars 28 and 29. This completes the framethe container at theremote ends of the sled.

To the top of the right-hand angle bars 2l and 23 in Figures 1 and 2 arexed suitable bearings 32 and 33 and to the top portions of the cornerangle bars 20 and 22 at the left-hand in Figures 1 and 2, are removablemounted suitable bearings 35 and 36. Mounted in the bearings 32, 33, 35and 36 are the restricted ends 31 of the rollers 40 and Y 4I and theother ends of the rollers are likewise restricted and mounted forrotation in the bearings 32 and 33.

Each of the portions 31 which penetrate the removableV bearings 35 and36 has a collar 44 thereon and a hole is formed through the collar 44and the portion 31. Each of the bearings 35 and 36 has a suitablevertically disposed hole therethrough and the portions 31 have asuitable transverse bore therethrough so that pins 41 may be Vpassedthrough the bearing portions 35 and 33 and through the portions 31 tohold the rollers 4U and 4l against rotation.

A suitable crank arm 48 may be passed through the holes 45 in thecollars 44 and through the ends 31 of the rollers 40 and 4l wherebyrotation may be imparted to the roller in which the crank 48 is mountedafter the pin 41 has been removed fromthe portion 31 of that particularroller. By turning the crank. 48, this particular roller will berotated, and the canvas will be rolled around or let off from the'particular roller.- This canvas is indicated by reference character 50and has its two ends fastened byA tacking or otherwise, not shown, tothe rollers 40 and 4|. Thus, with one of the pins 41 in position asshown in Figure 6 Yand with the crank in position on the other roller,rotation of the roller in one direction with the pin 41 removed for thatroller in which the crank is disposed will unwind or wind up the canvas5B and cause it to be lowered toward the position shown in Figure 4 orelevated to the position shown in Figure 3 or even elevated all the wayto the top of the framework, if desired.

The bottom angle bars have secured thereto suitable hitch members 52 and53 so that the sled can be pulled in either direction along between therows of tobacco.

In the drawings and specification there has been set forth a preferredembodiment of the invention, and although specic terms are employed,they are used in a generic and descriptive sense only, and not forpurposes of limitation, the scope of the invention being dened in theclaims. Y

VI claim:

4 1. An improvement in a tobacco sled comprising a framework having apair of sled runners on the lower surface thereof and having a pair ofrollers disposed longitudinally along the opposite side edges thereofand a flexible sheet member having its ends attached to the rollers andprojecting down into the framework, said framework having bearings ateach end of the rollers for rotatably supporting the rollers, saidframework having a bottom portion therein against which the canvas maybe lowered, said improvement comprising each of the rollers hav- 'ing atransverse hole therethrough through which a crank may be inserted forimparting rotation to the rollers, the bearings at one end of theframework having vertically disposed holes and each-of the rollershaving a transverse bore therethrough coinciding with the holes in lthebearings so that aV pin may be inserted through the holes in thebearings and the hole in the roller for holding it against rotation.

2. An improvement in a sled comprising a rectangular framework open atits top and having a bottom and having a pair of spaced runners mountedon the bottom thereof, a hitch disposed at each end of the framework fordrawing the same between tobacco rows, said framework having bearingmembers at all four upper corners thereof, a roller disposed along eachside edge of the framework and rotatably mounted in said bearings, a,flexible canvas member having its ends secured to said rollers and beingadapted to fall downwardly inside the framework and to rest on thebottom of the framework, said improvement comprising each of Saidbearings in one end of the framework having a vertically disposed holetherethrough and a hole in the rollers where they pass through thebearings and into which a pin may be inserted after passing through thehole in the bearing for holding the rollers against rotation, each ofthe rollers at one end thereof projecting beyond the bearings, andhaving a collar thereon and a transverse hole passing through the collarand the roller whereby a crank may be inserted in either one of therollers at a time for imparting rotation thereto to raise or lower thelower portion of the canvas to thereby regulate the height of the bottomportion of the canvas onto which tobacco leaves are adapted to bedeposited, when the pin for a particular roller has been removedtherefrom topermit rotation of the roller by the crank.

CHARLES S. HILL.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file ofthis pat-ent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 842,765 Byrd Jan. 29, 19071,195,776 Burnham Aug. 22, 1916 1,726,139 Blasco et al Aug-27, 19292,143,662 Schwarz Jan. 10, 1939

